Capital punishment is becoming increasingly rare in the 21st century.
More than half of all nations have outright abolished the practice, as of 2024. A further 17% of countries around the world have all but banned it.
This leaves just over a quarter of nations that continue to execute prisoners for their crimes.
In almost all cases, only those who commit the most heinous of crimes are punished this way.
But despite the barbarity of their crimes, many of the nations that still practice executions allow prisoners one final dignity before the end of their lives.
Final meals are perhaps best thought of as symbolic of the life a person has led, or wanted to lead.
In many cases, they come in the form of specially prepared meals that take prisoners back to a simpler time, before they bore the weight of their crimes on their shoulders.
Sometimes, however, these meals can completely unexpected.
From the murderer who requested a single olive in the hope he could grow a symbol of peace, to the Nazi who got a cheeseboard before facing justice, and the bizarre request of a killer who wanted a pound of dirt to get reincarnated, these are the strangest final meals ever requested by death row prisoners.
James Edward Smith
In April 1990, James Edward Smith (pictured) was executed by lethal injection for murder
For his final meal, Smith initially requested a lump of rhaeakunda dirt (File image)
In April 1990, James Edward Smith was executed by lethal injection for murder. He was 37 years old.
Smith fatally shot insurance executive Larry D. Rohus during a robbery inside a second-floor cashier’s office near the Astrodome on March 7, 1983.
During the jury selection for his trial in Texas, Smith attempted to escape and ran from the courthouse.
He only made it a few blocks before he was captured and returned to custody.
After being found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, Smith appealed the sentence. However, it was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1987.
For his final meal, Smith initially requested a lump of rhaeakunda dirt. It was thought that the specific dirt was used in voodoo rituals, which Smith thought may assist him in reincarnation.
However the Texas Department of Criminal Justice denied Smith’s request – so he settled on a cup of yoghurt.
His initial execution was scheduled for 1988; but this was pushed back when his mother’s lawyers appealed for stay of execution. He was eventually executed in 1990.
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, (pictured) was kidnapped by agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad from his Argentina bolthole
Eichmann asked to have a bottle of Carmel, a dry red Israeli wine, alongside the normal prison food of cheese, bread, olives and tea (File image of a cheeseboard)
Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, was kidnapped by agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad from his Argentina bolthole in a daring mission in 1960.
He was smuggled back to Israel to face justice for his horrific crimes.
During the eight-month trial, his actions as the man who actively facilitated and managed to mass deportation of millions of Jewish people to ghettos and concentration camps across Europe were laid bare to the world.
He showed no remorse for his actions, telling the court in his pardon plea: ‘There is a need to draw a line between the leaders responsible and the people like me forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders.
‘I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty.’
For his crimes against humanity, he was sentenced to death by hanging.
Despite his terrible actions during the Second World War, he was offered a chance to eat a special meal.
Eichmann, however, declined this and instead asked to have a bottle of Carmel, a dry red Israeli wine, alongside the normal prison food of cheese, bread, olives and tea.
But he reportedly only finished half of the bottle as he finished his meal on May 31 1962.
He was hanged to death in a prison in Ramla, Israel, just a few minutes after midnight.
Eichmann’s final words, according to one witness, were: ‘I hope that all of you will follow me.’
Mathias Kneißl
Mathias Kneißl (pictured) was a German outlaw, poacher and popular social rebel in the Dachau district, in the Kingdom of Bavaria
For his last meal he requested six glasses of beer (File image)
Mathias Kneißl was a German outlaw, poacher and popular social rebel in the Dachau district, in the Kingdom of Bavaria.
He gained infamy in the region throughout his life for repeatedly humiliating the police, who were seen as corrupt.
Kneißl began his career of crime at an early age, joining his brothers in their cattle poaching escapades before being jailed for the first time at the age of 16.
Though he was eventually released, he was unable to hold legitimate jobs down and turned back to his life of crime.
He committed several armed robberies, and was chased through the region for his crimes.
In one arrest attempt which ended in a gun fight with police, he injured two policemen so badly that they later died from their injuries.
Kneißl stayed on the run for another few months. Eventually, however, he was captured by a massive group of 60 policemen.
During the ensuing gunfight, Kneißl was seriously injured after taking a bullet to his abdomen.
He was charged with two murders, attempted murder, as well as armed robbery and extortion.
The Court sentenced him to receive the death penalty for murder and 15 years imprisonment on the other charges.
In 1902, he was sentenced to decapitation by guillotine. For his last meal he requested six glasses of beer.
Ricky Ray Rector
Ricky Ray Rector (pictured) was an American murderer who was executed for the 1981 murder of police officer Bob Martin in Conway, Arkansas
He left the pecan pie he requested on the side of the tray, telling the guards who came to take him to the execution chamber that he was saving it ‘for later’ (File image)
Ricky Ray Rector was an American murderer who was executed for the 1981 murder of police officer Bob Martin in Conway, Arkansas.
After getting into a heated disagreement with his friend, a furious Rector pulled a gun on his friend and shot him in the throat and forehead, killing him almost instantly.
He went on the run for several days, before his sister convinced him to turn himself in.
He agreed, but said he would only do so to Bob Martin, a police officer he had known since he was a child.
After Martin arrived at Rector’s mother’s home on March 24, Rector shot him in the jaw and neck before walking out of the home.
After shooting Bob Martin, Rector attempted to take his own life by shooting himself in the head.
The bullet wound, and subsequent surgery to remove the bullet from Rector’s head resulted in a frontal lobotomy (the loss of a three-inch section of his brain), leaving him mentally impaired.
In 1996 Rector was executed by lethal injection, however Rector seemed incapable of understanding his pending death sentence.
For his last meal, he requested a steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid and a pecan pie.
But he left the pecan pie he requested on the side of the tray, telling the guards who came to take him to the execution chamber that he was saving it ‘for later’.
Ronnie Lee Gardner
Ronnie Lee Gardner (pictured) was sentenced to death for the 1985 killing of attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse
Gardner ate a last meal of steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7-Up before beginning a 48-hour fast while watching The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
Ronnie Lee Gardner was sentenced to death for the 1985 killing of attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse.
At the time of the murder, Gardner was in court, accused of killing Melvyn John Otterstrom during a 1984 robbery at a bar.
Somehow, he had smuggled a revolver into the Metropolitan Hall of Justice at Salt Lake City.
Officials believe he was surreptitiously handed the firearm as he was being escorted into the court from the underground car park.
As he pulled the gun out, he was shot in the shoulder by armed guard Luther Hensley, before shooting unarmed bailiff George Kirk in the abdomen.
This allowed him to run to the court’s archive room, where he confronted two attorneys, Robert Macri and Michael Burdell.
Gardner pulled the revolver up and pointed it at Macri, who was in court doing pro bono work for his church.
Upon shooting him, he ran to the front of the building where he was confronted by dozens of officers.
After a quarter of a century on death row, Gardner, 49, became the first man to die by firing squad in Utah in 14 years in 2010.
He is the most recent person to be executed by this method.
Gardner ate a last meal of steak, lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream and 7-Up before beginning a 48-hour fast while watching The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
His lawyers said that the fast was done for ‘spiritual reasons’, though did not explain why he watched the film adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s classic trilogy.
Thomas J Grasso
Thomas J Grasso (pictured) admitted murdering two elderly people six months apart
Less than an hour before he died, he issued his final statement to the world: ‘I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this’ (File image of SpaghettiOs)
Thomas J Grasso admitted murdering two elderly people six months apart.
He strangled 85-year-old Hilda Johnson in 1990 with a set of Christmas tree lights in her own home, stealing $8 from her purse and $4 in loose change, along with a TV set that he fenced for $125.
Six months later, after moving to New York, he killed Leslie Holtz in 1991, an 81-year-old man from whom he stole his social security cheque.
His bizarre last meal request was for two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams, a Burger King double cheeseburger, six barbecued spare ribs, two large milkshakes, a tin of SpaghettiOs with meatballs, half a pumpkin pie and strawberries and cream.
Unfortunately, the length or complexity of his list seemed to confuse kitchen staff who made one crucial mistake.
Less than an hour before he died, he issued his final statement to the world: ‘I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.’
Victor Feguer
Victor Feguer (pictured) was a convicted murderer who became the last federal inmate to be executed by the United States in 1963
For his final meal, he requested a single olive with the pit still inside (pictured)
Victor Feguer was a convicted murderer who became the last federal inmate to be executed by the United States in 1963.
He was also the last person to be put to death in the state of Iowa.
Originally from Michigan, he found himself in Iowa and was renting a small room in a dilapidated boarding house.
His murder of Dr. Edward Bartels was the incident that landed him an execution by hanging.
After falsely calling the doctor to his home by claiming a woman needed medical attention, he kidnapped him and smuggled him out of the state to Chicago.
There, he is believed to have shot and killed the doctor in a cornfield, before leaving his body to rot.
Investigators believed he kidnapped the tragic doctor to coerce him into giving him drugs used to treat patients.
Feguer claimed that it was actually a Chicago drug addict, who he met on his way to Chicago, who murdered Bartels.
But the judge overseeing the case did not believe him, and sentenced him to hang.
For his final meal, he requested a single olive with the pit still inside.
He told guards he hoped an olive tree would be grown from his grave ‘as a sign of peace.’
